Apparatus for conveying fluid toward a region of high temperature



Dec. 19, 1967 w. E. COOPER 3,358,985

APPARATUS FOR CONVEYING FLUID TOWARD v A REGION OF HIGH TEMPERATUREFiled April 17, 1964 4 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 l m, B 7 FIGI 35 37 INVENTOR.

/// WILBUR E. COOPER gum-2M ATTORNEY APPARATUS FOR CONVEYING FLUIDTOWARD A REGION OF HIGH TEMPERATURE Filed April 17, 1964 3 Sheets-Sheet2 Dec. 19, 1967 w. E. COOPER 3,358,985

INVENTOR.

WILBUR E. COOPER BY M-smil A 'I'TORNE Y w. E. COOPER APPARATUS FORCONVEYING FLUID TOWARD Dec. 19, 1967 A REGION OF HIGH TEMPERATURE 3Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed April 17, 1964 INVENTOR.

WILBUR E. COOPER ATTORNEY liefird 8w Pam O I 3,358 985 APPARATUS FORCONVEYING FLUID TOWARD A REGION OF HIGH TEMPERATURE Wilbur E. Cooper,Steubenville, Ohio, assignor to National Steel Corporation, acorporation of Delaware Filed Apr. 17, 1964, Ser. No. 360,559 4 Claims.(Cl. 266-41) The present invention relates to apparatus for conveyingfluid toward a region of high temperature, and more particularly toimproved melting means for such apparatus. The preferred environment inwhich the invention is to be practiced is in connection with ametallurgical furnace, in which a gaseous fluid such as oxygen or fuelor a mixture of the two is conveyed through an elongated rigid conduitknown in this art as a lance or probe or jet. Such apparatus is oftenused in the steel industry in combination with furnaces of the openhearth or converter or electric furnace type. It is expressly to beunderstood, however, that the present invention is also applicable in avariety of other environments. Moreover, although the fluid conveyingmeans of the present invention is shown in the drawings mounted adjacentbut independently of a furnace, it is to be understood that it couldequally well be mounted on and carried by the furnace itself.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provideapparatus for conveying fluid toward a region of high temperature,characterized in that the operation of the apparatus is rapid and easyto control so as not to hinder other operations.

Another object of the present invention is the provision of suchapparatus that can be used so as to introduce the fluid at any desiredangle to the horizontal.

Still another object of the present invention is the provision of suchapparatus that will occupy a minimum of space.

Finally, it is an object of the present invention to provide apparatusfor conveying fluid towarda region of high temperature, and also toprovide in combination with a metallurgical furnace apparatus forsupplying fluid to the furnace through a fluid-supplying lance, whichwill be relatively simple and inexpensive to manufacture, easy toinstall, operate, maintain and repair, and rugged and durable in use.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will becomeapparent from a consideration of the following description, taken inconnection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is an elevational view of apparatus according to the presentinvention, shown in the environment of a furnace which is broken awaythe better to show the relationship of the parts;

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged fragment of FIGURE 1; and

FIGURE 3 is a fragmentary side cross-sectional view taken on the line 33of FIGURE 2.

Referring now to the drawings in greater detail, the invention is shownin combination with a metallurgical furnace 1 of the Bessemer scrapmelting type containing a charge or melt 3 of molten metal which is toundergo heating or refining or other treatment with fluid in vapor phaseintroduced through an oxygen lance 5 that extends down into furnace 1from an upper or inlet end 7 of lance 5 to a lower or discharge end '9of lance 5. Lance 5 in the illustrated embodiment is of the oxygen lancetype, meaning that it continuously discharges gaseous oxygen from itsdischarge end 9. Gaseous oxygen is supplied to inlet end 7 through aflexible conduit 11, and cooling water is caused to flow through thelength of lance 5 about the inner oxygen conduit by means of flexibleconduits 13 and 15 by which cooling water is supplied to and removed3,358,985 Patented Dec. 19., 1967 from lance 5. The structure of lance 5as such may be entirely conventional.

Entirely new, however, is the mounting for lance 5, indicated generallyat 17. Mounting 17 includes a pair of fixed standards 19 that extendupwardly on either side of lance 5. Lance 5 is vertically reciprocablebetween standards 19. The base of standards 19 is provided with anopening 21 through which lance 5 extends. Opening 21 serves to guide themovement of lance 5 in a desired direction.

Standards 19 and lance 5 are interconnected by lazy tongs linkage 23. Onthe side of each standard 1'9 opposite lance 5, a pair of short links 25are mounted at one end of each link 25 for vertical swinging movement ona pin 27. The two pins 27 are coaxial and horizontally disposed and aresecured to the upper portions of standards 19. At their outer ends,short links 25 are pivotally interconnected each with a longer link 29inter-mediate the length of link 29. There are thus four each of shortlinks 25 and longer links 29.

Links 29 in turn are pivotally interconnected at their lower ends bypins 31 that pass through the lower ends of links 29 and are guided forreciprocatory movement in slots 33 that extend through standards 19. Attheir other or upper outer ends, links 29 are pivotally interconnectedwith still longer links 35, which in turn cross each other and arepivotally interconnected at their intersection by pins and at theirupper ends by further pins further links 35, and so on up. There is thusproduced a lazy tongs linkage having a fixed point at 27 and a movablepoint at 31, and motion-multiplying means comprising the system of links25, 29 and 35 such that the uppermost part of the lazy tongs linkage asseen in the drawings will have a motion in a direction opposite thedirection of motion of point 31 and of a magnitude determinable by thenumber and size of links 25, 29 and 35. It will of course be understoodthat in general, the more the links the greater the motionmultiplication, and that the multiplication of motion divides theapplied force; in other words, ignoring friction, the product of forceand motion remains equal for any point in the system. These and otherprinciples of the operation of lazy tongs linkage are well known andneed not be discussed at greater length.

At its upper end, lazy tongs linkage 23 carries an annular collar 37which is fixedly but detachably secured to inlet end 7 of lance 5.

The link elements of linkage 23 are duplicated on opposite sides oflance 5; that is, the elements of the linkage that are shown in FIGURE 1are exactly superposed on identical linkage elements on the oppositeside of lance 5. This relationship is perhaps best seen in FIGURE 3. Itwill therefore be appreciated that linkage 23 has two fixed points 27the common axis of which intersects the axis of lance 5, and that themedial points of articulation of the links all lie in a plane which in-'cludes the axis of lance 5. Lance 5 thus overlies the length of linkage23 and is disposed internally of linkage 23. Moreover, linkage 23extends upon retraction of lance 5, that is, upon movement of lance 5away from the furnace; and conversely, linkage 23 retracts uponextension of lance 5, that is, upon movement of lance 5 farther into thefurnace. As a result, no more space is needed for the lance-movingequipment axially of the lance than the length of the lance itself, anda highly valuable consolidation of parts is thus elfected.

It will also be recognized that, although lance 5 is other pivot pointsbut in modified form. Thus, every medial point of articulation oflinkage 23 that lies on the midplane of lance 5, other than point 27,will move along a path that is congruent with the path of motion ofpoint 31. Thus, the motion of those midpoints of articulation of linkage23 that are on the side of point 31 opposite point 27 will describemovements that are mirror images of the movements of point 31 and thatare increased in distance relative to the movement of point 31 inproportion to their distance from point 27 along the linkage. Thesignificance of this is not so apparent in the case of the embodimentillustrated in FIGURE 1 as it would be if slot 33 were not straight.Instead, if slot 33 were some shape other than straight, as it can beaccording to the present invention, then it would be apparent that aspoint 31 moved along a non-rectilinear path, collar 37 would move in amirror-image direction at considerably increased velocity and through aconsiderably greater distance. In other words, pins 27 would be the truepivotal axis of the lance for any position of the lance and during anymovement of the lance. The provision of an appropriate shape for slots33 will cause the lance to follow any desired path of movement withoutbinding of its mounting means. Needless to say, such manipulation iscompletely impossible with the usual lance mounting means, which havebeen little more than crane and counterweighted cable arrangements.

Power means are also provided for actuating linkage 23 to cause lance 5to follow its desired course of movement. These means include anactuator frame 39 which is a hollow open rectangle and to the medialportions of the longer sides of which the pins 31 are secured. Fluidmotors 41, which act generally parallel to the axis of lance 5, arefixedly mounted on the adjacent structure of the Work station orbuilding and have their movable portions or piston rods secured to themidportions of the shorter sides of frame 39. Points 31 thus move withthe movable portions of fluid motors 41, which causes a correspondingmovement of increased magnitude of lance 5 through collar 37.

As actuator frame 39 descends, lance 5 rises. It is thus possible tocounterbalance the weight of lance 5 by providing counterweights 43-carried by frame 39. Theoretically, therefore, the only work that fluidmotors 41 need do is to overcome friction.

The useof a lazy tongs linkage mounting for the lance in combinationwith counterweight means such as counterweight 43 will also be seen tohave the advantage of promoting the use of lance 5 in any direction inaddition to vertical as shown in the drawings. This is becausecounterweights such as counterweights 43 are effective only inproportion to the sine of the angle between the line of movement ofcounterweights 43 and the horizontal. In other words, whencounterweights 43 are traveling vertically as in the illustratedembodiment, they exert their full weight in counterweight effect; andcorrespondingly, the sine of 90 is unity. But when the counterweightsare traveling on an incline, and lance 5 is correspondingly traveling onan incline, then counterweights 43 exert less than their fullcounterweight effect; and correspondingly, the sine of their angle ofmovement to the horizontal is less than unity. But at the same time, theneeded counterweight effect, that is, the force necessary to move lance5 and its associated linkage 23 against the influence of gravitycorrespondingly decrease as the sine of that angle to the horizontal. Inother words, when counterweights 43 move generally parallel to thelance, as is possible by use of the lazy tongs linkage of the presentinvention, they effectively counterbalance the weight of the lance andthe associated structure regardless of the angle at which the lancetravels. Again, no such effect has been capable Of achievement With thecrane and pulley mechanisms for moving lances according to the priorart.

In speaking of the illustrated linkage 23, reference has been made to afixed point 27. Of course, as is well known by those skilled in the artof lazy tongs linkage, it is not necessary to have a fixed point at all.It is necessary only to partially or totally restrain some portion ofthe linkage against what would otherwise be its normal movementlengthwise of the linkage, so that a restrained portion in effect passeson to an unrestrained portion of the linkage what would otherwise havebeen the movement of the restrained portion of the linkage. In theillustrated embodiment, the most restrained portion of the linkage is atpoint 27. It will also be understood that alternatively, any of thevarious pivot points could be restrained to some extent. For example,links 25 and 29 could be completely eliminated and the lower ends of thelowermost links 35 could ride in channels perpendicular to the axis ofthe lance. Similarly, the force that is now applied parallel to the axisof lance 5 by fluid motors 21 could, with some loss of the advantagesdescribed above,

be instead applied perpendicular to the axis of lance 5, for example,against the ends of links 35. These and other obvious modifications oflazy tongs linkage are all well known and need not be shown or furtherdescribed in order to make it obvious to those skilled in this art thatmany modifications and variations of the illustrated embodiment couldreadily be made within the purview and scope of the present invention asdefined by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In combination with a metallurgical furnace, apparatus for supplyingfluid to the furnace, comprising an elongated fluid-supplying lancehaving a longitudinal axis, means mounting the lance for extension in adirection into the furnace and retraction in a direction out, of thefurnace, said means including lazy tongs linkage for movement in adirection parallel to the longitu-, dinal axis of the lance disposedoutside the furnace and having at least one part secured to thefluid-supplying lance restrained against movement axially of the lanceand at least one other part secured to the lance for reciprocal movementwith the lance toward and away from the furnace, and power meansoperatively connected to the lazy tongs linkage for moving such linkageto control movement of the fluid supply lance, into and out of themetallurgical furnace.

2. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, the lazy tongs linkage comprising apair of sets of links, one pair being disposed on each side of thelance.

3. Apparatus. as claimed in claim 2, the midline of each set of linksand the axis of the lance lying in a common plane.

4. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, and counterweight means mounted formovement with the lazy tongs linkage in a direction opposite thedirection of movement of the lance.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 226,101 3/1880 Pfautz 74-521 X843,301 2/1907 Sagenhorn 74-521 X 2,282,608 5/1942 Rempel 74-521 X2,615,413 10 /1952 Adams et al. 2,981,377 4/1961 Brisson. 3,057,61610/1962 Wohlfahrt et al. 266-34 3,112,135 11/1963 Solomonson 745213,170,977 2/1965 Obenchain 266-34 JOHN F. CAMPBELL, Primary Examiner,

I, COHEN, Examiner,

1. IN COMBINATION WITH A METALLURGICAL FURNACE, APPARATUS FOR SUPPLYINGFLUID TO THE FURNACE, COMPRISING AN ELONGATED FLUID-SUPPLYING LANCEHAVING A LONGITUDINAL AXIS, MEANS MOUNTING THE LANCE FOR EXTENSION IN ADIRECTION INTO THE FURNACE AND RETRACTION IN A DIRECTION OUT OF THEFURNACE, SAID MEANS INCLUDING LAZY TONGS LINKAGE FOR MOVEMENT IN ADIRECTION PARALLEL TO THE LONGITUDINAL AXIS OF THE LANCE DISPOSEDOUTSIDE THE FURNACE AND HAVING AT LEAST ONE PART SECURED TO THEFLUID-APPLYING